Extended superalgebras from twistor and Killing spinors

The basic first-order differential operators of spin geometry that are Dirac operator and twistor operator are considered. Special types of spinors defined from these operators such as twistor spinors and Killing spinors are discussed. Symmetry operators of massless and massive Dirac equations are introduced and relevant symmetry operators of twistor spinors and Killing spinors are constructed from Killing-Yano (KY) and conformal Killing-Yano (CKY) forms in constant curvature and Einstein manifolds. The squaring map of spinors gives KY and CKY forms for Killing and twistor spinors respectively. They constitute a graded Lie algebra structure in some special cases. By using the graded Lie algebra structure of KY and CKY forms, extended Killing and conformal superalgebras are constructed in constant curvature and Einstein manifolds.Comment: 7 pages, published versio

Index of Dirac operators and classification of topological insulators

Real and complex Clifford bundles and Dirac operators defined on them are considered. By using the index theorems of Dirac operators, table of topological invariants is constructed from the Clifford chessboard. Through the relations between K-theory groups, Grothendieck groups and symmetric spaces, the periodic table of topological insulators and superconductors is obtained. This gives the result that the periodic table of real and complex topological phases is originated from the Clifford chessboard and index theorems.Comment: 17 pages, published versio

Symmetry operators of Killing spinors and superalgebras in AdS_5

We construct the first-order symmetry operators of Killing spinor equation in terms of odd Killing-Yano forms. By modifying the Schouten-Nijenhuis bracket of Killing-Yano forms, we show that the symmetry operators of Killing spinors close into an algebra in AdS_5 spacetime. Since the symmetry operator algebra of Killing spinors corresponds to a Jacobi identity in extended Killing superalgebras, we investigate the possible extensions of Killing superalgebras to include higher-degree Killing-Yano forms. We found that there is a superalgebra extension but no Lie superalgebra extension of the Killing superalgebra constructed out of Killing spinors and odd Killing-Yano forms in AdS_5 background.Comment: 13 page

Twistor spinors and extended conformal superalgebras

We show that the first-order symmetry operators of twistor spinors can be constructed from conformal Killing-Yano forms in conformally-flat backgrounds. We express the conditions on conformal Killing-Yano forms to obtain mutually commuting symmetry operators of twistor spinors. Conformal superalgebras which consist of conformal Killing vectors and twistor spinors and play important roles in supersymmetric field theories in conformal backgrounds are extended to more general superalgebras by using the graded Lie algebra structure of conformal Killing-Yano forms and the symmetry operators of twistor spinors. The even part of the extended conformal superalgebra corresponds to conformal Killing-Yano forms and the odd part consists of twistor spinors.Comment: 16 pages, published versio

Supergravity backgrounds and symmetry superalgebras

We consider the bosonic sectors of supergravity theories in ten and eleven dimensions which correspond to the low energy limits of string theories and M-theory. The solutions of supergravity field equations are known as supergravity backgrounds and the number of preserved supersymmetries in those backgrounds are determined by Killing spinors. We provide some examples of supergravity backgrounds which preserve different fractions of supersymmetry. An important invariant for the characterization of supergravity backgrounds is their Killing superalgebras which are constructed out of Killing vectors and Killing spinors of the background. After constructing Killing superalgebras of some special supergravity backgrounds, we discuss about the possibilities of the extensions of these superalgebras to include the higher degree hidden symmetries of the background.Comment: 11 pages, short review, to appear in Turk. J. Phys. special issue on General Relativity and Related Topic

Spin Geometry and Some Applications

In this review, basic definitions of spin geometry are given and some of its applications to supersymmetry, supergravity and condensed matter physics are summarized. Clifford algebras and spinors are defined and the first-order differential operators on spinors which lead to the definitions of twistor and Killing spinors are discussed. Holonomy classification for manifolds admitting parallel and Killing spinors are given. Killing-Yano and conformal Killing-Yano forms resulting from the spinor bilinears of Killing and twistor spinors are introduced and the symmetry operators of special spinor equations are constructed in terms of them. Spinor bilinears and symmetry operators are used for constructing the extended superalgebras from twistor and Killing spinors. A method to obtain harmonic spinors from twistor spinors and potential forms is given and its implications on finding solutions of the Seiberg-Witten equations are discussed. Supergravity Killing spinors defined in bosonic supergravity theories are considered and possible Lie algebra structures satisfied by their spinor bilinears are examined. Spin raising and lowering operators for massless field equations with different spins are constructed and the case for Rarita-Schwinger fields is investigated. The derivation of the periodic table of topological insulators and superconductors in terms of Clifford chessboard and index of Dirac operators is summarized.Comment: 70 pages, Based on the lectures given at METU Physics Depertment between the dates 27 October 2017 and 5 January 201

Transgression field theory at the interface of topological insulators

Topological phases of matter can be classified by using Clifford algebras through Bott periodicity. We consider effective topological field theories of quantum Hall systems and topological insulators that are Chern-Simons and BF field theories. The edge states of these systems are related to the gauge invariance of the effective actions. For the edge states at the interface of two topological insulators, transgression field theory is proposed as a gauge invariant effective action. Transgression actions of Chern-Simons theories for (2+1)D and (4+1)D and BF theories for (3+1)D are constructed. By using transgression actions, the edge states are written in terms of the bulk connections of effective Chern-Simons and BF theories.Comment: 7 pages, title changed, new section, discussions and references added, published versio

Couplings of gravitational currents with Chern-Simons gravities

The coupling of conserved p-brane currents with non-Abelian gaugetheories is done consistently by using Chern-Simons forms. Conserved currents localized on p-branes that have a gravitational origin can be constructed from Killing-Yano forms of the underlying spacetime. We propose a generalization of the coupling procedure with Chern-Simons gravities to the case of gravitational conserved currents. In odd dimensions, the field equations of coupled Chern-Simons gravities that describe the local curvature on p-branes are obtained. In special cases of three and five dimensions, the field equations are investigated in detail.Comment: 8 pages, a new discussion with two paragraphs and some references added, published versio

Spin raising and lowering operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields

Spin raising and lowering operators for massless field equations constructed from twistor spinors are considered. Solutions of the spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ massless Rarita-Schwinger equation from source-free Maxwell fields and twistor spinors are constructed. It is shown that this construction requires Ricci-flat backgrounds due to the gauge invariance of the massless Rarita-Schwinger equation. Constraints to construct spin raising and lowering operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields are found. Symmetry operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields via twistor spinors are obtained.Comment: 10 pages, an appendix added, published versio

Generalized symmetry superalgebras

We generalize the symmetry superalgebras of isometries and geometric Killing spinors on a manifold to include all the hidden symmetries of the manifold generated by Killing spinors in all dimensions. We show that bilinears of geometric Killing spinors produce special Killing-Yano and special conformal Killing-Yano forms. After defining the Lie algebra structure of hidden symmetries generated by Killing spinors, we construct the symmetry operators as the generalizations of the Lie derivative on spinor fields. All these constructions together constitute the structure of generalized symmetry superalgebras. We examplify the construction on weak $G_2$ and nearly K\"{a}hler manifolds.Comment: 23 page